This disclosure generally relates to an airfoil including an internal cooling chamber and baffle. More particularly, this disclosure relates to an airfoil including chambers for preferentially directing cooling air within the cooling chamber.
An airfoil utilized within a gas turbine engine includes a cooling chamber within which cooling air flows to remove heat from an inner surface of a wall exposed to extreme temperatures. A baffle within the cooling chamber includes a plurality of openings for directing air to impinge directly against the inner surface of the hot wall. The impingement of the cooling air against the hot wall improves cooling efficiencies.
Disadvantageously, cooling air that has impinged against the hot wall is warmed and flows toward an exhaust opening opposite from the inlet. The warmer air mixes with the cooler air causing a non-uniform temperature of the cooling air that results in non-uniform cooling along the airfoil. This can result in higher airfoil temperatures in the airfoil as the distance from the inlet increases. The non-uniform and increasing temperatures can reduce cooling efficiency.
Accordingly, it is desirable to design and develop a cooling air baffle and chamber that increases cooling air efficiency and provides uniform cooling air temperatures along the airfoil.